The next few hours were spent with Jed explaining the room he found, then figuring out the controls of said room. Half of it had been re-routed, making the pristine control room a lot less useful than it should’ve been, since only the some of the control mechanisms were pristine.
“Okay, so, I think I’ve got most of it figured out, and I could just flip the switch and presto, no more lure,” Jed said as he joined the others for lunch, more than a little happy to discover Metsa and Sotas had thought ahead enough to bring supplies.
Even if it was just cold meats and cheese with bread, it beat the pudding dispenser he’d found in the control room. Not that he’d trust it, given how thoroughly the rest of the pylon had been torn apart.
And this was the good pylon.
“I’m guessing there’s a reason you haven’t flipped it,” Metsa said while stacking another layer of meat and cheese on her sandwich. The seventh, if Jed was counting right, all of them different.
“Like I said, that would shut down the lure. But it wouldn’t reactivate the barrier,” Jed said before taking a bite out of his own sandwich, enjoying the simple tastes and cool textures. “And it might prevent me from doing so for the next hundred years.”
“Restoring the barrier would be better, right?” Gwen asked, looking towards Metsa and Sotas.
“Course it would. We restore the barrier, people are going to come sniffing around, wanting to know how it was done. Prove it was us, and it’ll be more than enough to make up for a few dead marshals,” Metsa said, sliding a thin metal toothpick into her sandwich before taking a bite and letting out a little moan of contentment. “Just another sign that hunters get things done, and marshals get people dead.”
“And what of the Empire?” Mythlyn asked from her spot near the porthole window Sotas had been looking out of earlier. “It won’t just be the locals who notice a barrier returning to life.”
“Which is why Jed’s not going to be the one claiming credit,” Metsa said between bites. “Honestly, it might be best if we disappeared you two soon as the barrier’s online. Just until we can get things settled.”
“That’s perfect,” Gwen said, clapping her hands and looking over at Jed. “You wanted to see more of the ring anyway, right, partner?”
Jed chuckled, nodding as he continued to chew.
“Good. We’ll talk options later, but Sotas and I have a few favors we could call in. Somewhere without too many imperials wandering around, I think,” Metsa said, trading a glance with Sotas, who was eating each piece of meat separately, wrapped around blocks of cheese.
He nodded, licking his fingers. “This is a good plan. Better than plan to hide in shadow district in middle of night and hope to survive.”
“Might have to do that again,” Jed said, frowning. “It sounds like you guys need to prepare before we fix this thing up.”
“We were going to need to spend another night here anyway,” Metsa said, waving Jed off. “After last night, there won’t be many demons running about. If we get the barrier up, that’ll make harvesting all the meat easier too. Nice little bonus, that.”
Jed nodded, having taken another bite of his sandwich.
“So we’re spending the night here? Think there’s any chance you can get us into the top? Would love to see the city from up there,” Gwen said, looking longingly at the blank wall.
Jed chuckled around his sandwich, but didn’t give more of a reply than that. He hadn’t tested if he could bring someone with him, but it should be possible, in theory.
All depended on what the system decided.
After they’d finished up their lunch, Jed led Gwen over to the wall. “Okay. This is either going to work, in which case, awesome. Or it won’t, and I guess you’ll be stuck out here while I work.”
“Those are the options,” Gwen said chuckling.
“Right. Was just making sure you knew those were the only options. No need to worry about being torn into little pieces or alternate versions of you popping into existence,” Jed said, grinning.
“Wait… what?” Gwen asked right as Jed laid his hand on the panel next to the door.
As the warp-fire engulfed them, she let out a short scream, which was cut off by them vanishing.
Not to be denied, her scream continued the second they popped into existence inside the control room. To her credit, it didn’t take Gwen long to reign it in.
And it didn’t take long after that for him to smack him in the arm. “Jerk,” she said before letting out a little laugh.
“Guilty as charged,” Jed said as he took in the view. He hadn’t appreciated it last time, because he’d been worried for Mythlyn, but it really did offer an excellent perspective of the city and the ring both.
It was still startling to him sometimes, to raise his head and for there to be so much land stretching into the sky.
Shaking it off, Jed set to work, moving between rooms as he did so. Metsa and Sotas sealed off the stairwell leading up then went to salvage the parts he needed. After they returned with those, they’d be headed back into Vaskerville to set things into motion and get more supplies.
Once Jed had done all he could with the parts on hand, he sat with Mythlyn and Gwen, looking out over the city while attempting to capture flickers of warp-fire.
“I think going through the door helped my sensitivity,” Gwen said. “It’s a lot easier to hear you now.”
“That isn’t surprising. You’ve lived your entire life surrounded by the warp, yet never truly stepping into it,” Mythlyn sent, kicking her toes. “Now that you’ve felt the change so clearly, more subtle changes are easier to pick out.”
“Still can’t catch everything when you talk that fast, though I think I get your point,” Gwen said, shifting to also lean against Jed, trapping his arm.
“Ladies, I’m trying to focus here,” Jed said, shrugging his arm free so he could move it.
“Pillows aren’t supposed to complain,” Gwen grumbled.
“My pillow status is for sleep hours,” Jed said, pushing her away gently.
“You’ve literally got her sitting in your lap,” Gwen pointed out.
“It’s one leg. And I’m trying to practice my warp-fire manipulation,” Jed protested. Honestly, it was closer to a foot massage than being used as a pillow.
“You may use me as a cushion, if you like, though I suspect we are still compatible,” Mythlyn said.
“Just… give me a second,” Jed grumbled, shifting so that he could hold Mythlyn’s leg but also so Gwen could rest her head on his other leg without trapping his arm.
“Nah. It’s fine. I’m over it,” Gwen said, pushing to her feet.
Jed stared at her for a second, before blowing out a snort through his nose. “Fine.”
His attention moved back to the warp-fire, dancing about as it did. It was so much harder to manipulate than his own.
Just as a reference, he summoned the cyan framework. And discovered his portal had almost doubled in diameter over night, now just large enough that he could shove one of his rifle’s bullets through.
Maybe. He also wasn’t sure how useful doing so would be, since he could only move it… two feet, it seemed.
Still, between the demons and his practice with Mythlyn’s warp-fire, he’d clearly improved.
After a couple minutes, Gwen sat back down. A minute after that she laid her head in his lap, causing Jed to chuckle.
He didn’t lose focus though, the revelation of how much he’d grown with his primary ability made it feel close to controlling it. When he finally grasped it, lifting a tiny little flicker of up in front of his eyes, Mythlyn gasped.
“I can… I can feel it,” she said, closing her eyes. “I could always feel your touch, but this… it’s different.”
“Do you hear me?”
“Yeah.”
“Respond not with your mouth, but with your mind. You should be able to send it into… ah. No. That is… that was just noise. More practice is going to be required before I ask you to attempt that again.”
Jed chuckled, shaking his head.
Yet one more warp-skill to practice.
After getting it the first time, it was easier to pull a wisp of warp fire away again, though his success rate was still only one in three attempts by the time Metsa and Sotas returned with the parts, and even more importantly, tools.
Then they were gone again, off into the city.
The repairs were mostly simple. The pylon itself was mostly intact, only needing the equivalent of a fuse changed out. The controls required more finesse, and he had to leave half of the settings under the control of the old system. Even so, by the time the sun set, he was ready to attempt reactivating the pylon.
Unfortunately, much as Jed wanted to throw the switch, he had to wait until Metsa confirmed everything else was good to go.
So instead, the trio spent the last hours of the evening trading stories, before eventually crashing out on the control room couch. In a way, it reminded Jed of the station. Mostly of all the good times he’d had there with Mythlyn.
Though this was better, because this time, they were choosing to be together.
It hadn’t escaped Jed’s notice that Mythlyn could carry the revolver. Nor that if she could carry it, that meant she could walk off whenever she wanted. He doubted the controls on his chest would affect her if she moved too far.
“I’m glad you’re here, old friend,” Jed said, leaning forward and kissing the top of Mythlyn’s head.
“As am I,” Mythlyn said, letting out a long yawn. An affection she’d been indulging more since they’d come to the surface.
“Yes, yes, you too are very good friends and love each other very much. Now, if my pillow could be quiet, I’ve had a long day,” Gwen grumbled.
Jed chuckled softly, ruffling her hair, chuckling when she swatted at his hand. Then he leant back, letting his head rest right in the little nook between sections.
Metsa and Sotas hadn’t returned first thing in the morning, so for breakfast, Mythlyn convinced Jed to introduce Gwen to the joy of pudding and wafers.
“Wow. These are amazing,” Gwen said, having polished off more than half of the prepared wafers and pudding. “Good thing it’s so hard to get in here or I’d be eating this all the time.”
“That’s mostly Mythlyn’s doing. She’s gotten good at bringing out the best in station food,” Jed said, leaning back.
“When you say station food, why do I get the feeling you don’t mean train station?” Gwen asked even as she grabbed the last wafer.
“Because I don’t. I mean space station. Which is where we were trapped for the last ten years,” Jed replied, realizing that despite how much he’d grown to trust the woman, he still didn’t know Gwen that well. Their exchange of stories the evening before had been lacking in certain details, on everyone’s part.
“That… you mean, not on the ring? Like, over the edge?”
“Like that, yeah,” Jed said, shrugging.
“Oh don’t play with the girl,” Mythlyn laughed, pushing Jed’s shoulder. “She already knows I’m an archangel and that you’re the closest thing to an architect the world’s seen since the Empress.” Mythlyn turned to Gwen directly. “We were on the Eye.”
“The Eye? That Eye?” Gwen asked, pointing upwards. “And wait, what do you mean, next to the Empress? What does that have to do with the Architects?”
“Ah, it seems I made some assumptions. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to handle this, old friend?”
Jed chuckled, shaking his head, though not in negation. Then he leaned forward and started to explain, from the beginning. After all, if Mythlyn felt she could be trusted… well, she was far less trusting than Jed.
“So… I’m actually from a whole other world. A place called Earth,” Jed said, meeting Gwen’s enraptured gaze.
She was surprisingly quiet as he told her his story. And a fair portion of Mythlyn’s as well.
“That is… that is some fantasy shit, right there,” Gwen said, pacing back and forth, having held out a hand and stood up to start pacing back and forth when Jed had gotten to the part of warping in to land on the back of the repair roach next to Metsa and Sotas.
“That is the part of the story you object to? Jed appearing next to a pair of demon hunters?”
“Not any demon hunters! Metsa and Sotas. They’re famous across three hexes!”
“Of nearly a thousand, and I am famous across all of them,” Mythlyn said, arching her eyebrow at Gwen. “Should that not be more impressive?”
“I guess, sure,” Gwen said, waving a hand. “The whole thing is…”
“A little bit crazy?” Jed asked, leaning back and closing his eyes, a smile tugging at his lips. “The craziest part is how much fun I’m having, now that we’re not stuck on the station.”
“That is crazy. Training was… okay, yes, that was fun. Sometimes,” Gwen conceded before flopping down beside him on the couch. “But you need to be crazy, to be a hunter. To be a good one, anyway. And I think our crazy might just match.”
“We shall see,” Mythlyn said, placing a hand gently on Gwen’s shoulder. Was weird he could sense that with his eyes closed. “We do not wish for you to get crushed under the weight of our past.”
That made Jed frown. “Don’t think she’s that weak, do you?”
“All three of us are weaker than we should be, even if we are stronger than we were two days ago,” Mythlyn said, moving around the couch and settling down across his lap, placing a foot in Gwen’s.
“Oh yeah. Didn’t even think to check that,” Jed said, hand sliding under his shirt as he fiddled with the settings. The light filled the room a few seconds later, and Jed realized that there was slightly less flickering around the edges than there had been.
Sure enough, when he checked warp manipulation, it had increased from a measly five points to twenty-two. No wonder his portal was bigger, not to mention how much easier it was to grasp her warp-fire. But how much of that was them killing demons, and how much was from his efforts.
A quick check revealed that most of it came from him practicing in areas of ‘high warp turbulence’. Translation, practicing after killing the demons had focused his efforts.
It wasn’t the only attribute that had increased. Once more, his overall vitality had gone up, as had his sensitivity to the warp, though considering how high those had been the couple points made almost no difference.
“That… is so unfair,” Gwen said, breaking Jed out of his thoughts.
“Hmm,” he said, glancing over to find Gwen fixated on the display.
“You can just tap your chest and you find out everything about… you?” Gwen demanded, waving her hand through the floating numbers.
“He can do more than that, in a place like this,” Mythlyn said.
“Not sure the scanners are hooked up anymore. This place is pretty jank,” Jed said as he leaned back and looked around. “But maybe.”
“Scanners? Scanners for what?” Gwen asked, leaning close enough Jed could smell the wafers she’d had for breakfast. It was surprisingly pleasant.
Maybe the wafers were a suitable replacement for breath mints?
Shaking the errant thought away, Jed said, “For you. Metsa and Sotas too, if they want it. Might need another pylon though.”
“You’re saying you can get these numbers for other people, with the right equipment?”
“Yes?”
“Definitely got the right partner,” Gwen said, flopping down on the couch, any sense of urgency gone as she laid her head in his lap, staring up at his floating display. “Though… we should probably talk about what sort of shape our partnership is going to take.”
“Hunt demons, explore the world, help people,” Jed said immediately. “Could do with a little less running from the Empire, but it seems like that’s going to be part of it too. Probably for a long time.”
“And… what about us? Are we just going to be friends, like you and Mythlyn, or are we gonna be, you know… more?”
“Uh. Little bit early for more, isn’t it? We’ve barely known each other for a month,” Jed said, suddenly much more aware of how close she was.
Mythlyn’s constant touching might have desensitized him a little.
“How long until you knew? With Mythlyn, I mean. That it wouldn’t work,” Gwen asked, her hand playing with a little bit of loose thread near the knee of Jed’s pants, only a few inches from her nose.
“Not for a long time,” Jed admitted. “Had a crush on her for a good year, at least, even after she told me she didn’t work that way.”
“So, you did feel that way towards her.”
“You said you never had those sorts of feelings for me,” Mythlyn said almost immediately after, her voice harsh.
“I did say that. I didn’t want to make it awkward for you,” Jed admitted.
“Oh, my dear friend, I would have accommodated you,” Mythlyn said, leaning over and kissing the top of his head.
“Yeah. I definitely didn’t want that,” Jed said, chuckling. “What we have is great.”
“So. You’re not into men or archangels, but you do like women?” Gwen asked, her finger moving to trail over his knee, thread still wound around it.
“I mean, guess I’m into archangels. But only ones who’re into me, if that makes sense,” Jed tried, doing his best to ignore Gwen’s actions. “Same for women.”
“So… you are or you are not interested in us becoming partner-partners?” Gwen asked, her hand stilling.
“I mean, you’re definitely an attractive woman. But if we’re going to be partners. Or partner-partners, as you put it… well, it’s something worth doing right, is all,” Jed said, reaching down and squeezing her shoulder. “Whether that means us being together or not.”
“Last guy I brought this up with said yes so fast I could hear his belt ringing against the floor,” Gwen said with a chuckle. “Was a fun night, but like you said… he wasn’t partner-partner material. Not for the long term.”
“Good, so… if that’s settled for now,” Jed said, looking about the room. “What do you say we see if we can’t scan you.”
“That is exactly the sort of thing the right sort of partner-partner would say.”